Best: Elvis Costello - Tiffanys 1982 The Clash - Barrowlands 1984 Richmond Fontaine - ABC2 2007 (changed my life, I fell back in love with music, and see below) Richmond Fontaine - The Luminaire 2007 (seeing I was in London why not go and see that Charlton team I have a soft spot for? I became hooked!) Chuck Prophet - Oran Mor 2013
Worst: Some Swedish blues guy who prodded me with his guitar to wake me up during a Celtic Connections concert Possibly last Saturday. The Low Anthem played their “challenging” new album in full. Then asked if anyone had a request. One guy shouted “just play a decent f’ing song”. They then played their “hit” Charlie Daniel and the seemingly stoned lead singer forgot the words. Cue shouty guy “we paid good money for this sh*t”. I’d never question an artist’s integrity and right to play what they want but shouty guy was right
Richmond Fontaine are absolutely superb - great band, one of my all time favourites. Saw them a few times before I left the UK for Canada in 2005 - they very rarely played over here (theyre from Portland) - so never got the chance to see them live again. Willy Vlautin is also a fine writer - currently reading his new book & looking forward to seeing “Lean on Pete” as well - if its half as good as his last film I’ll be happy...
Best: Elvis Costello - Tiffanys 1982 The Clash - Barrowlands 1984 Richmond Fontaine - ABC2 2007 (changed my life, I fell back in love with music, and see below) Richmond Fontaine - The Luminaire 2007 (seeing I was in London why not go and see that Charlton team I have a soft spot for? I became hooked!) Chuck Prophet - Oran Mor 2013
Worst: Some Swedish blues guy who prodded me with his guitar to wake me up during a Celtic Connections concert Possibly last Saturday. The Low Anthem played their “challenging” new album in full. Then asked if anyone had a request. One guy shouted “just play a decent f’ing song”. They then played their “hit” Charlie Daniel and the seemingly stoned lead singer forgot the words. Cue shouty guy “we paid good money for this sh*t”. I’d never question an artist’s integrity and right to play what they want but shouty guy was right
Richmond Fontaine are absolutely superb - great band, one of my all time favourites. Saw them a few times before I left the UK for Canada in 2005 - they very rarely played over here (theyre from Portland) - so never got the chance to see them live again. Willy Vlautin is also a fine writer - currently reading his new book & looking forward to seeing “Lean on Pete” as well - if its half as good as his last film I’ll be happy...
Cheers for the link @Oakster - hadn’t seen it before. RF are my all time favourites and Willy Vlautin is a great writer. It’s really good to see how he develops the plot from his songs into a full scale novel. Really nice bloke too, he sought me out after that Luminaire gig to give me a signed copy of the Motel Life to thank me for coming to the gig from Scotland.
Got GospelbeacH tickets for the end of May gig in Glasgow - getting mildly moist already
Best: Elvis Costello - Tiffanys 1982 The Clash - Barrowlands 1984 Richmond Fontaine - ABC2 2007 (changed my life, I fell back in love with music, and see below) Richmond Fontaine - The Luminaire 2007 (seeing I was in London why not go and see that Charlton team I have a soft spot for? I became hooked!) Chuck Prophet - Oran Mor 2013
Worst: Some Swedish blues guy who prodded me with his guitar to wake me up during a Celtic Connections concert Possibly last Saturday. The Low Anthem played their “challenging” new album in full. Then asked if anyone had a request. One guy shouted “just play a decent f’ing song”. They then played their “hit” Charlie Daniel and the seemingly stoned lead singer forgot the words. Cue shouty guy “we paid good money for this sh*t”. I’d never question an artist’s integrity and right to play what they want but shouty guy was right
Richmond Fontaine are absolutely superb - great band, one of my all time favourites. Saw them a few times before I left the UK for Canada in 2005 - they very rarely played over here (theyre from Portland) - so never got the chance to see them live again. Willy Vlautin is also a fine writer - currently reading his new book & looking forward to seeing “Lean on Pete” as well - if its half as good as his last film I’ll be happy...
Cheers for the link @Oakster - hadn’t seen it before. RF are my all time favourites and Willy Vlautin is a great writer. It’s really good to see how he develops the plot from his songs into a full scale novel. Really nice bloke too, he sought me out after that Luminaire gig to give me a signed copy of the Motel Life to thank me for coming to the gig from Scotland.
Got GospelbeacH tickets for the end of May gig in Glasgow - getting mildly moist already
That should be some show! I think The Hanging Stars are supporting as well...
Best Pharoah Sanders at Jazz Cafe about 1992. Played all the classics plus sang too while his sax still made a noise even though not blowing into it?! Terry Callier too at the same place prob about 97? Just after his re-emergence courtesy of Giles Peterson. Apart from Terry you could of heard a pin drop as everyone was so captivated... Amazing
Seen Pharoah Sanders a bunch of times. And, yes, he always does that thing where he generates so much air in the horn that it plays by itself for a few seconds. Out of interest what would you list as his classics when you saw him? I would say You've Got To Have Freedom, Jitu, Thembi, Astral Travelling, among others. I've only seen him play You've Got To Have Freedom once, although he's played Coltrane's Naima every time I've seen him.
Astral Travelling so beautiful it hurts. Also Upper Egypt Lower Egypt.
I was at both those Jazz Cafe gigs. Terry Callier (Timepeace) was just pure magic and will never forget that evening.
Best - Queen and Status Quo at Wembley in 86. Queen were fantastic, and Quo really got the crowd going. I made the mistake of going to the loo in the middle of their set, and by the time I'd navigated the queue for the ladies Rocking All Over The World had started. The walls were shaking with the vibration of thousands of feet stomping in unison - it was rather disconcerting.
Worst - probably Eat at the Venue, although that had more to do with the fact that my sister's boyfriend got into a fight with some bloke who kept elbowing my sister in the head, and the band stopped playing until they broke it up.
Got tickets this morning to see Queen and Adam Lambert play the o2 next June. Got them more for my daughter's sake as she loves Queen.
Obviously won't be anywhere near as good as when Freddie Mercury was alive but will still put on a great show.
I saw the Eagles many times,but their concert at Twickenam(cant recall year} was the best show I have seen Worst by a country mile Whitney Houston at the O2,she should never have done that tour.
Bizarrely both my best and worst concerts ever have been Bob Dylan ones. I absolutely love his work and at least two concerts I've seen of his have been incredible, with Cardiff in 2002 being my favourite ever. But another one I saw of his in, I think 1998, was appalling. Although I guess it's his prerogative, he reworked most of the songs into organ dirges with no discernible melodies or connections to the original. Guess he likes to sometimes tear down his own mythology and do what he wants, but it was two hours of absolute rubbish. But when he is good it is completely transcendent.
Best Pharoah Sanders at Jazz Cafe about 1992. Played all the classics plus sang too while his sax still made a noise even though not blowing into it?! Terry Callier too at the same place prob about 97? Just after his re-emergence courtesy of Giles Peterson. Apart from Terry you could of heard a pin drop as everyone was so captivated... Amazing
Seen Pharoah Sanders a bunch of times. And, yes, he always does that thing where he generates so much air in the horn that it plays by itself for a few seconds. Out of interest what would you list as his classics when you saw him? I would say You've Got To Have Freedom, Jitu, Thembi, Astral Travelling, among others. I've only seen him play You've Got To Have Freedom once, although he's played Coltrane's Naima every time I've seen him.
Astral Travelling so beautiful it hurts. Also Upper Egypt Lower Egypt.
I was at both those Jazz Cafe gigs. Terry Callier (Timepeace) was just pure magic and will never forget that evening.
I also saw Terry Callier's Timepiece, he had the ability to pull everyone into his songs with him, great evening as you said.
Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club) at Royal Festival Hall around 2006 is one of my best.
Paul Weller in NY around '98 really impressed me. Also saw Jamiroquai in NY around the same time, he was support act to Busta Rhymes of all people.
As a show, Michael Jackson's Dangerous tour (92?) at the old Wembley Stadium was memorable.
Worst was Coldplay out in Perth, Aus in '00 (was nothing else to do in Perth!) Everything about them was average at best.
Difficult question as I guess I was more easily wowed when I was younger. Also, there’s a big difference between big venue and small venue experiences. I’m sure some of the support acts I saw in my Marquee, Tramshed et al days were the worst, but here’s a few ideas:
Most wowed at a small venue: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at The Marquee who were billed as ‘Mystery Band’ Most impressive: Muse at O2 Most wowed at a big venue: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (front row at Wembley Arena) Most enjoyed: Tommy Petty and the Heartbreakers at a fairly smalll venue in Chicago Most unusual venue but enjoyed: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at tiny venue in Kyoto, Japan Intentionally worst band that was hilarious: The hastily named F****** C**** which was actually the members of Splodgenessabounds replacing the absent support act to Splodgenessabounds by playing the wrong instruments and just making a din. Many in the audience didn’t realise. That was at The Tramshed. Most disappointing: Eric Clapton at Castle Howard where he played nothing that the audience knew except Layla as a final encore by which time everyone was getting into their cars Worst: I seem to remember a support band at The Bridge House Canning Town who were so pissed that they couldn’t speak, stand up or play anything. I think they were called Friday Doom. Indeed, they were doomed.
This is so difficult and I’m split between a day in Kaiserslautern with Fleetwood Mac Rumours Tour supported by Bob Marley and the Wailers, Led Zep in Manheim and The Who Quadrophenia
Worst: Status Quo at Hammersmith. Not because they played badly but just because they for me are a monotonous bore. I walked out after 5 songs as each one sounded the same.
Best: Led Zep Earls Court ‘75 and The Clash Music Machine, Camden Town multiple times ‘77 Worst: Any and all Cliff Richard gigs my first ex dragged me along to in the ‘80s
What a great thread. Can't believe I missed it before.
Best - Rush 2112 tour in 1977 supported by Stray at the Hammersmith Odeon.
Worst - Been to several disappointing concerts, but I wouldn't call any of them 'worst' as I've enjoyed them all to some extent.
Edit: Thinking of disappointing concerts, Sammy Hagar at the Hammy in 1981 now springs to mind.
I saw Rush and Stray at Hammersmith too, both great bands but with polar opposite levels of success. Also saw Stray play a small gig, Marquee possibly; their first album is amazing!
Best - John Prime at the Barbican in 2014 Worst - Lucinda Williams also at the Barbican in 2016. So bad it was the only concert that I have got up and left.
There were a couple of gigs where the disparity between two of the acts was enormous, kind of like seeing the best gig and the worst gig in one go.
Queen and Kiki Dee at Hyde Park ('75?) was one. Kiki was amazing, the only thing good about Queen was the light show.
The other was Dylan at Blackbush in '77. They put Joan Armatrading between Clapton and Dylan and whilst Joan wasn't bad per se the contrast between her and Eric and Bob was too much and ruined the flow of the evening.
I was at the free Hyde Park gig in ‘76. You’re right Kiki Dee was very good (and just as good on the recent OGWT recording), but I differ with you on Queen. They were much heavier than on record, but I thought they were great- there are clips of their performance on YouTube. I’m not particularly a Queen fan btw, but me and my mate were accompanied by two gorgeous young women, mind you, we were young then!
Best - Queen and Status Quo at Wembley in 86. Queen were fantastic, and Quo really got the crowd going. I made the mistake of going to the loo in the middle of their set, and by the time I'd navigated the queue for the ladies Rocking All Over The World had started. The walls were shaking with the vibration of thousands of feet stomping in unison - it was rather disconcerting.
Worst - probably Eat at the Venue, although that had more to do with the fact that my sister's boyfriend got into a fight with some bloke who kept elbowing my sister in the head, and the band stopped playing until they broke it up.
Got tickets this morning to see Queen and Adam Lambert play the o2 next June. Got them more for my daughter's sake as she loves Queen.
Obviously won't be anywhere near as good as when Freddie Mercury was alive but will still put on a great show.
I was actually going to include Queen and Adam Lambert at IOW 2016 in my top list...
i think Lambert does a brilliant job - he doesn’t try to rip off Mercury and his chemistry with May and Taylor is spot on.
Best - Aerosmith at Wembley Stadium 1999. It was called the Toxic Twin Towers Ball. They were on top form that night. Support acts were Lenny Kravitz, Stereophonics & The Black Crowes. Absolutely cracking day
Worst - Bob Dylan at The Hop Farm. I've mentioned this gig many times on this forum over the years. He refused to be shown on the big screen & mumbled his way through the set incoherently. You couldn't tell when one song finished & the next song started. Dreadful
Bizarrely both my best and worst concerts ever have been Bob Dylan ones. I absolutely love his work and at least two concerts I've seen of his have been incredible, with Cardiff in 2002 being my favourite ever. But another one I saw of his in, I think 1998, was appalling. Although I guess it's his prerogative, he reworked most of the songs into organ dirges with no discernible melodies or connections to the original. Guess he likes to sometimes tear down his own mythology and do what he wants, but it was two hours of absolute rubbish. But when he is good it is completely transcendent.
Big Bob Dylan fan and would say that both my best and worst concerts I have been to were his. Saw a superb gig of his in Cardiff in 2000 where he was on fantastic form but saw an awful one a few years before at the same venue where he just seemed to want to subvert his own back catalogue by playing everything on keyboards seemingly in 'the club style'. They're his songs and I suppose it's his prerogative but my God it was grim.
Comments
Worst: Duran Duran at the Olympics Opening Concert - how the bloody hell do people enjoy their music!?
Got GospelbeacH tickets for the end of May gig in Glasgow - getting mildly moist already
I was at both those Jazz Cafe gigs. Terry Callier (Timepeace) was just pure magic and will never forget that evening.
Got tickets this morning to see Queen and Adam Lambert play the o2 next June. Got them more for my daughter's sake as she loves Queen.
Obviously won't be anywhere near as good as when Freddie Mercury was alive but will still put on a great show.
Worst: Every time I've seen Van Morrison. Don't know why I thought each next gig by him would be different.
Worst by a country mile Whitney Houston at the O2,she should never have done that tour.
Best - Rush 2112 tour in 1977 supported by Stray at the Hammersmith Odeon.
Worst - Been to several disappointing concerts, but I wouldn't call any of them 'worst' as I've enjoyed them all to some extent.
Edit: Thinking of disappointing concerts, Sammy Hagar at the Hammy in 1981 now springs to mind.
Worst : Primal Scream, elephant and castle. Bobby Gillespie was off his head and produced a shambles of a performance.
Ibrahim Ferrer (Buena Vista Social Club) at Royal Festival Hall around 2006 is one of my best.
Paul Weller in NY around '98 really impressed me. Also saw Jamiroquai in NY around the same time, he was support act to Busta Rhymes of all people.
As a show, Michael Jackson's Dangerous tour (92?) at the old Wembley Stadium was memorable.
Worst was Coldplay out in Perth, Aus in '00 (was nothing else to do in Perth!) Everything about them was average at best.
Most wowed at a small venue: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at The Marquee who were billed as ‘Mystery Band’
Most impressive: Muse at O2
Most wowed at a big venue: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (front row at Wembley Arena)
Most enjoyed: Tommy Petty and the Heartbreakers at a fairly smalll venue in Chicago
Most unusual venue but enjoyed: Yeah Yeah Yeahs at tiny venue in Kyoto, Japan
Intentionally worst band that was hilarious: The hastily named F****** C**** which was actually the members of Splodgenessabounds replacing the absent support act to Splodgenessabounds by playing the wrong instruments and just making a din. Many in the audience didn’t realise. That was at The Tramshed.
Most disappointing: Eric Clapton at Castle Howard where he played nothing that the audience knew except Layla as a final encore by which time everyone was getting into their cars
Worst: I seem to remember a support band at The Bridge House Canning Town who were so pissed that they couldn’t speak, stand up or play anything. I think they were called Friday Doom. Indeed, they were doomed.
Worst: Status Quo at Hammersmith. Not because they played badly but just because they for me are a monotonous bore. I walked out after 5 songs as each one sounded the same.
Level 42 - utterly boring
Toyah - embarassing
Best:
Third World - Rainbow - brilliant sound, music and atmosphere
Defunkt - Dingwalls
The Pasadenas - Dingwalls
The Jam - Rainbow - amazing night
Worst: Any and all Cliff Richard gigs my first ex dragged me along to in the ‘80s
Worst - Lucinda Williams also at the Barbican in 2016.
So bad it was the only concert that I have got up and left.
i think Lambert does a brilliant job - he doesn’t try to rip off Mercury and his chemistry with May and Taylor is spot on.
it will be a hell of a show - you will enjoy it.
Worst - Bob Dylan at The Hop Farm. I've mentioned this gig many times on this forum over the years. He refused to be shown on the big screen & mumbled his way through the set incoherently. You couldn't tell when one song finished & the next song started. Dreadful
Go figure.
Good job you didnt change your story... :-)